For the next two years, she regularly sailed south from Japan for combat air-sea rescue (CSAR) tours off Vietnam, compiling a total of 493 days underway, 312 of which were spent in the Gulf of Tonkin.

The uncommonly long duration of the passage was due to frequent stops along the way at various ports for additional work to be done and by a three-week refresher training (REFTRA) period in the vicinity of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Reeves returned to Pearl Harbor on 20 December 1971 and remained in the Hawaii and west coast areas until September 1972 where she participated in various operations and exercises, notably a Midshipman cruise in July.

She departed Hawaii on 18 September, headed for her second WESTPAC deployment since recommissioning, arriving at Subic Bay Naval Base, Philippine Islands 14 days later.

After six months in the western Pacific, stationed off the coast of Vietnam, Reeves sailed into port at Pearl Harbor on 17 March 1973.

Reeves, after a period of dry-dock and training exercises in the mid-Pacific from after October 1977, deployed to the Strait of Hormuz in late January 1980 as a response to the embassy hostage situation with Iran of November the year prior.

From 24 February to 5 June 1981 USS Reeves, under the command of Captain James White Egerton USN, deployed with Battle Group Alpha on a Westpac/Indian Ocean Cruise.

During this operation, Reeves blasted either the Bruce Springsteen song "Born in the U.S.A." or Jefferson Starship's "Layin' It on the Line" over the ship's 1MC when in the proximity of Soviet naval vessels.

During the port call hundreds of Navy men took advantage of several tours, arranged by their Chinese hosts, that included stops at Qingdao's carpet, embroidery, jade and shell factories.

Throughout their stay, the crews of the visiting ships held lectures and discussion sessions on Navy shipboard organization, management, training, propulsion, logistics and weapons systems for their Chinese hosts.

On 26 June 1989, Reeves and the destroyer USS Fife rescued 92 Vietnamese refugees in the South China Sea, about 320 miles (510 km) southwest of the Philippines.

On 30 October 1989 an F/A-18 Hornet aircraft from USS Midway mistakenly dropped a 500-pound general-purpose bomb on the deck of Reeves during training exercises in the Indian Ocean, creating a 5-foot (1.5 m) hole in the bow through the line locker one compartment forward of the fore missile house, sparking small fires, sending shrapnel back to the fantail and injuring five sailors.

[citation needed] Reeves was decommissioned on 12 November 1993, stored at the Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility (NISMF), Pearl Harbor.

These improvements provided an accurate means of coordinating the engagement of multiple air targets with SM-2 Extended Range missiles.